9 1/2 Months as a Twihard

Living a life of rural isolation is no protection against The Twilight Saga.

I blame him.

I had managed to be completely unaware of the phenomenon until a flu bug knocked me out in February (yes...2012).  It was then, bored and cranky, that I splurged impulsively on a $2.99 kindle edition of the first Twilight book.  I couldn't put it down.  I was hooked.  It was the best flu I've ever had.

I became a Twihard in record time, plowing through all four books in a week, and then buying used copies of the movies.  Now, the movies were a bit disappointing, except for, well, you know...HIM.  And that other guy, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Let me start by saying that when you make the decision to read teen fiction, you set yourself up for tales of vampires and werewolves.  I was immediately taken in by perfect Edward Cullen.  I thought Bella was a hard-headed trouble maker.  Jacob was a rather predictable corner of the lovers' triangle.  Of all of the books, I thought Eclipse was the best (not nearly enough Edward in New Moon), and I liked Breaking Dawn the least (really?  TWO movies out of that one?).

A word about the series:  if I had a teenager in my house, I would encourage them to read all four books.  Meyer did manage to convey awfully good tension and resolution regarding tolerance.  Also, she liberally borrowed story lines from classics and made them interesting by combining them with the vampire-werewolf mythology.  Teens today are lucky to get a novel way to comprehend Shakespeare and Bronte via the Twilight saga.  If it gets kids to read, don't you think it's worth it?

The movies.  I do not remember little Robbie Pattinson from Harry Potter.  The first time I ever saw him in a leading role was as Jacob Jankowski in Water for Elephants.  I found him quite appealing, although not appealing enough to rent Twilight (not on my radar yet).  Every bad thing you've heard about that first Twilight movie is absolutely true.  I was struck by Pattinson's youthful Edward, and he played the brooding vampire pretty well, despite the amateurish production.  I had seen Stewart in an indie film where she convincingly played a mopey hair-tossing slut.  I've got to hand it to Stewart; with her big ears, narrow chin, and rabbit teeth she is not a classic movie beauty, but her I-don't-give-a-shit attitude serves Bella well.  I still don't know what those guys saw in her, though.

The real delight in the movies is Taylor Lautner.  Whenever he's on-screen, I can't take my eyes off of him, even when he manages to keep his shirt on.  He is such a natural, so easy to like.  He made me reread the entire series with his likable Jacob in my head.  I will not, however, participate in this silly Team Edward or Team Jacob hoo-hah.   And I would be remiss if I did not mention Billy Burke's wonderful chief of police Charlie.  Kudos to him for taking the role and being serious about it.

love the copstache

see what I mean?

Which brings me to my quandary.  BD2 opens this Friday, the last Twilight film of the series.  Should I shell out the bucks and spend two hours in a theater full of goofy teenagers, just to say I experienced this phenom?  Is it worth it?